I agree with you 100%. I’m also the same with holiday photos, unless the person has been somewhere interesting. Bali and/or New Zealand don’t count.
To my wife’s family…no we will not be visiting at 2 pm. Since a visit always entails you hijacking us for the duration of the day and deep into the a.m. hours, and I am consigned to sitting in a room bored as we all stare blankly at each other for those endless hours, we will instead show up gracefully for dinner at 7 pm and maybe, just maybe, we can escape before midnight without hating the whole experience.
- I’m feeling this way more and more and MORE every year. This is not a Lifetime Movie, and there will be no Christmas Miracle, and I won’t suddenly gather all my loved ones in a group hug 'cause family is what really matters. (Well, it is, but I hate Enforced Emotion because “it’s Christmas”.)
- I hate racking my brain trying to think of stuff to give to people who don’t need stuff, but “it’s Christmas” and you HAVE to. Conversely:
- Why do I know so many people who ain’t got nothin’? It’s not that I expect or want presents from them in return (they give me knick-knacks from the Dollar Store), but there are so many of them, I am spread thin and they all get something smaller than I would like to give.
- I don’t want anything. Really. I would like you who wish to give me something to instead make a donation to the Humane Society, or the SPCA. I don’t need more stuff… So what do I get? More stuff. Calendars, day planners, socks, candy, jars of peanuts - oh look, another funny mug, thanks. What about the Humane Society? Did you think I wasn’t serious? Did you think you’d hurt my feelings if I didn’t have something to unwrap?
When there is a $50 limit for Secret Santa most people realise that it’s expected that you spend the whole $50 (or at least close to it). My BiL drew me and my husband and got us a $10 tin of shortbread that I recognise from the local supermarket chain. WTF.
I wouldn’t have minded if he’d spent less than $50 but bought something thoughtful. Or if he’d made an effort but missed the mark. But if he wanted to be lazy he should have at least spent the whole $50 on a gift card or something. Don’t be fucking cheap and lazy. He’s not hurting for money - he’s in his late 20s, living with mummy and daddy and has almost 100k in the bank. He’s not hurting for time either - he starts his first full time job next February and is just bumming around until then.
Everyone else received great gifts that reflected their interests and tastes. Do you know how hard it is to act excited about storebought shortbread? “Oh wow, shortbread, yum! And what a nice tin, we can keep it afterwards!” Neither of us even likes shortbread. Nobody likes shortbread. Tinned shortbread is the sort of present you give to people you don’t know, or keep wrapped just in case your cousin decides to bring her boyfriend to Christmas this year.
I would have rather received nothing at all. This way he gets to delude himself that he bought a decent $50 Secret Santa gift and saved $40 instead of feeling guilty for being a shit and stingy gift giver.
Dh has a brother who has been divorced for 5 years. His Ex was invited to Thanksgiving dinner by another brother and his wife who were in charge of that dinner. First brother specifically asked his mother not to invite the Ex to Christmas dinner. Second brother and his wife throw a big stinky fit on behalf of Ex SIL and give sweet, thoughtful MIL a horrible time for weeks over this. They threatened to not show up themselves for Christmas in support of someone else’s Ex, a woman they are no longer related to but somehow still feel should be able to show up and make her Ex and his girlfriend uncomfortable as a Christmas present.
Am I the only one who thinks these people are crazy? Support your brother, not the woman he’s been divorced from for many years.
I swear this couple has to be offended about something for every single holiday get together. Mr. Woodhouse’s family gets together at least six times a year and this couple shows up maybe one time out of the six because someone in the family offended them and they just can’t be around that person right then.:rolleyes:
We get together with my husband’s family on Christmas Eve morning to exchange gifts and to eat breakfast.
STUPIDEST TRADITION EVER.
Who the fuck does “Christmas Eve Breakfast?!?!?!”
Lastyear, my MIL who was in the middle stages of dementia and wheelchair bound, provided the holiday entertainment. It started when my nephew jokingly told her there wasn’t going to be an election this year, because Bush was going to run another term. We didn’t know she could still move so fast. She grabbed the broom and started attacking my husband’s uncle (her BIL), and cussing a blue streak.
This year, she’s bedridden and it takes her several miniutes to recognize any of us, if at all. The home health nurse called to see if my FIL needed her to come and give MIL a bath. My husband answered the phone because FIL was out having a smoke. He didn’t want to bother his dad because he’s been through hell lately. So my husband told the nurse it would be great if she could come.
When FIL found out, he started screaming at my husband that he already gave her a bath and he doesn’t need the nurse. Then goes back outside.
When the nurse arrives, my FIL and BIL were outside. She starts bitching to FIL about how she has her regular patients she needs to take care of and MIL wasn’t on her schedule. 
Then why the fuck did she call?
I have no immediate family, so my Mom, my Dad, and my sister are the only ones who give me presents. All live in different states.
Mom was great this year. She respected my wish that she not load me down with more stuff. Everything she gave me was thoughtful, as always. Yay, mom.
My dad and sister, though…okay, none of us needs Christmas presents, we can all buy ourselves what we want. None of us is going to buy the other really extravagant gifts. So we buy off each other’s Amazon lists. I have brought up the subject before of us knocking it off and giving up this farce, but neither of them would have it. So I bought their presents with a few clicks on Amazon and had them sent to them.
They, however, could not do this simple chore in time for me to have presents to open on December 25th. sigh
Thanks Burundi. I had a nice day, like in the back of my head I knew I would. I’m always surprised when I get homesick - surely I grew out of that aged 10?
And a rant: if I have to be at work on Boxing Day, then godammit SouthEastern Trains, so do you. And fie on you, Sunday bus services. It should not have taken over an hour to get to work. Fie!
The 7-, 10-, and 12-year-old girls all got digital cameras for Christmas. I got flashed so many times it was like the neuralizers in Men in Black. One more time and I was going to have seizures. I’m still seeing spots. Even the grandparents were telling them to put the damned things away, and they let the kids get away with decapitating the household pets.
Perhaps Harmonious Discord would be willing to do you a favor and invite the kids to his(?) house next year:
The day after Christmas and all I have are 4 buns and no ham.
I have a beef with toy manufacturers. The sprog got a couple of toys that can be taken apart and re-assembled. Taking them apart is easy enough, but I’m tired of putting the damn things back together. I’m thinking a tube of Super Glue might be in order for some of it.
Robin
My son got one too. I can’t convince him that it’s okay to stand more than six inches away from from your subject - so far he has taken hundreds of extreme closeups of everybody and the dog.
I didn’t return to my ancestral abode yesterday, so my mother lit a special candle during the festivities for the family to “remember” me by.
That would have been quite touching, except I. am. not. dead.
He’s your husband’s brother, right? I think your husband should have pulled the kid aside and given him a good talking-to. From what you’ve said–that he has almost 100 K saved and that he still lives with your in-laws–I don’t think confronting him about this would have been out of line in the slightest; it isn’t like you’d be complaining about a co-worker’s (who’s kind of a strange and whose financial status might be a little more uncertain) Secret Santa gift.
Heh. Would you believe that BiL is several years older than my husband?
I’m kicking myself that I didn’t say anything at the time. But as soon as I opened it my “pretend you like it! Pretend you like it!” instincts kicked in, and I also had the fleeting thought that perhaps I’d mistaken the Secret Santa limit. I discreetly confirmed the limit with MiL a day or so later, and by then I figured I’d missed the window of opportunity to bring it up without making it seem like a big deal. BiL has some minor emotional/mental issues, so anything my husband said would have devastated him, and I can get over my irritation a lot easier than BiL can get over being (even gently) criticised.
We also ate the shortbread. It was bland and faintly sugary as predicted. Next year I’m going to suggest we all buy goats or something.
Have you checked?
This is so small and inconsequential but it makes me go 
I asked for and got a laser pointer with which to entertain my cat. He loves chasing things and I figured he’d really love it.
When I first tried it, he went nuts. Chased it back and forth across the room. I was pleased.
After that, though, he’s scared of it. I don’t get it. He’s not scared of ANYTHING. But every time he sees the little light, he runs the other way instead of playing with it. He’s not even entertainingly scared of it (awful as that sounds) … I mean he doesn’t jump or anything when he sees it, just scampers away.
I’m so disappointed. I wonder if I should pass it on to someone else whose cat will enjoy it instead. I thought it would be such a cool thing, but he hates it
Let me just say that whoever thought it would be a good idea to make noisemaking kids’ toys WITH NO OFF SWITCH needs to be shot.
That is all.
DFS.
I hate companies trying to make people think they’re getting a saving by selling at “reduced from X” price when they NEVER EVER sell at the X price. And I hate that soooo many people are gullible enough to be taken in by it. DFS has a permanent sale. They just change its name. Currently it’s the “Winter Sale”. Yes, this means it’s winter and you’re selling.
“But I’ve saved money! Aren’t I clever!” You poor fools.
That reminds me - My nieces got furbies a few years ago. It didn’t take long for the kids themselves to have the furbies locked up in a dark cupboard with the batteries removed.